US ex-VP Biden says will be 'more mindful' about personal space

Former US vice president Joe Biden, who is mulling a White House run, said Wednesday after coming under fire over his physical contact with women that he will be "more mindful" in the future about respecting personal space.

"Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I've heard what these women are saying," the 76-year-old Biden said in a message on his Twitter account.

Several women have gone public in recent days with claims that Biden touched them inappropriately years ago.

"Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future," he said.

"That's my responsibility and I will meet it," said Biden, who is considering whether to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Amy Lappos told Connecticut's Hartford Courant newspaper about an incident at a 2009 political fundraiser which, she said, "wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head."

Another accuser, former Nevada state lawmaker Lucy Flores, said last week she was "mortified" when Biden planted a "big, slow kiss" on the back of her head as she waited to take the stage at a campaign rally five years ago.

Biden came under criticism in 2015 for massaging the shoulders of Ash Carter's wife as her husband was sworn in as secretary of defense.

Photographs of that incident have circulated online so frequently that Stephanie Carter posted a column Sunday saying Biden was merely "a close friend helping someone get through a big day, for which I will always be grateful."

Biden, in a video which accompanied his Twitter message on Wednesday, said that in his long political career he has "always tried to make a human connection.